American Commerce Department Withdraws Plan to Add Chinese Drones to the Restricted List

According to Reuters, on January 9, the U.S. Department of Commerce stated that it had withdrawn a plan aimed at restricting drones made in China to address national security concerns.

In December 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States prohibited the import of new models of drones and components made abroad, citing national security reasons. Companies such as DJI and Autel were included in the "Untrusted Supplier List."

This week, the FCC previously said that it would grant exemptions for some drones not made in China.

In September of last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce stated its intention to implement new measures to restrict or even ban the import of Chinese drones to address issues in the information and communication technology supply chain.

According to a statement published on the U.S. government website on January 9, the U.S. Department of Commerce submitted the proposal to the White House for review on October 8 of last year, but withdrew the proposal on January 8.

Publicly available records show that the White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce held multiple meetings regarding the drone proposal until December 19, and met with DJI representatives on December 11. DJI once again emphasized that implementing a comprehensive restriction on drones made in China was "unnecessary, conceptually flawed, and would cause extremely serious damage to U.S. stakeholders."

Imported drones from China dominate the commercial drone market in the United States, with more than half of the drones coming from DJI.

The spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce responded on December 23, 2025, regarding the U.S. addition of "untrusted suppliers" to the drone sector, stating that in recent years, the U.S. has ignored normal commercial transactions and trade between Chinese and American companies, disregarded the strong calls from the business communities of both countries, repeatedly generalized the concept of national security, and used state power to strike against enterprises of other countries, including Chinese companies. This is a typical case of market distortion and unilateral bullying. The Chinese side urges the U.S. to stop this wrong practice and immediately revoke the relevant measures.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1853907966217290/

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